A variety of devices for accomplishing this purpose have been previously proposed. An example includes U.S. Pat. No. 2,898,911 which discloses a resilient eye cup capable of being snapped onto the shoulder of an eye drop bottle. U.S. Pat. No. 3,058,466 is directed to a bridge-like member arranged to hold a bottle, positioning being accomplished by placing the feet of the bridge above and below the eye. Still another prior art proposal appears in U.S. Pat. No. 3,872,866 which teaches threading a positioning device to the threads of a bottle neck. U.S. Pat. No. 4,085,750 shows resilient arms extending from a collar fitting the bottle neck, the idea being that the arms are engaged with the closed eyelid and allowed to spread to hold the lid open. French patent No. 1,025,304 (published 14 Apr. 1953) also discloses the use of arms but with the additional feature of rupturing the drop container when the arms are squeezed to release a fluid. It is clear that any device of this kind employing individual arms is dangerous when in use, having the potential for injuring the patient's eye.
It is the object of the present invention to provide a safe instrument which is easily and quickly attached, either removably or permanently, to a plastic eye dropper bottle to increase accuracy in dispensing ophthalmic solutions in post-surgical and general use and which may either be removed for reuse on another bottle or thrown away with the bottle when empty.